Episode 456 - The Old Nurse's Story

Agreed that Libidinous Bees is the best band name coming out of this story, but I'll also add that just about any phrase from the section describing what the bee-like voices are whispering would work as the title of an album put out in the 1990s by Projekt Records.

I'd love to attend a one-man-show double-feature with Chris Lackey doing The Old Nurse's Story and The Judge's House. Pure magic! :D

I assume that since Chad's doing the recording by the time Chris' voice makes it all the way across the pond, it's bound to be a tad on the tuckered out side:)

Is it just me or does Chris seem a bit tired in this one. Chad: *makes a statement* Chris: "Meh." In the wrap up Chris's deep depression, possibly brought on by this fairly generic gothic ghost story, was overwhelming!

Cool outro music! Great job with the audio enhancement, as always, Chad!

Now I just want to see the Carnaki stories redone with Rudy Ray Moore as the lead.

Bret Kramer

If my ward and I were stuck in a haunted mansion with a phantom organ player and a ghost child trying to lure my ward to a frosty doom, I would get straight on the phone to Dolemite to come round and cut the motherf@$kers.

I agree wholeheartedly. Both Rachel and Heather have fantastic voices. I love the readings they did for Cats of Ulthar, Cool Air, and The Yellow Wallpaper. More readings by them would be a treat for the ears.

Thank god today when some old bastard is condemned to life of ghostly tormenting others, he'll be able to use his Spotify account, imagine suffering endless repeats of "insert most annoying pop song". So like normal life I suppose

My reason for popping into this thread, however, was to remark on how impressive Rachel's reading was. Really high quality. Is there any chance of some more full text readings from Rachel and your other contributors? I mean, *surely* you can't be *busy*! Thanks for all your hard work.

Absolutely! It was first published in a Christmas edition of Dickens's 'Household Words', which would have been published with the expectation that the stories would be read aloud to the family, in this case, on Christmas Eve, which was the style at the time. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/old-nurses-story-elizabeth-gaskell-1852

Is it likely that this was meant to be read aloud? I found the narration moved the story along at a brisk pace.

The theme of being hounded by one's guilt and sins via supernatural manifestations is prominent in The Picture of Dorian Gray. While this Old Nurse's Story is a pretty run-of-the-mill vengeful ghost affair, Dorian Gray's approach is not only extremely novel but unexplained — which sort of puts it in the Weird Zone.

The strong religious overtones in this story were definitely underpinned by the ghostly organ music, clearly a reference to the popular hymn, "Good Ship Venus" - 'The third mate's name was Morgan By God he was a gorgon From half past eight he played till late Upon the captain's organ'

A Series of Unfortunate Turns of The Screw on a Regretful Sister. There's no indication, despite all her guilt, that she has made any effort to atone for her sins, and instead seems a fatalist resigned to her own coda. Is it possible that those final lines are not the point but, in fact, a curse she is pronouncing upon herself?

Jimmy Mac

This is why music education is important in schools. How else do we expect people to be able to play creepily in the afterlife? A ghost stumbling through some scales just doesn't set the Gothic tone.

Good episode. Could have used some Iron Man jokes. 9/10, would recommend.

I appreciated the nurse's blasé reaction to the ghostly organ playing. It's sort of realistic if you think about it: she freaks out when she first hears it, but over time, as it continues and nothing else seems to really happen, it just becomes routine background noise. That's how we actually treat plenty of stuff like that: what seems weird or dangerous at first just becomes normal and ignorable as time goes by. For example, I've come to ignore the creepy ghost organ music in my own house. It's no big deal.

Ethan Cordray

All those generic ghost stories are starting to blend into one another. I'm always hoping for some interesting take on the genre like "Seaton's Aunt", but alas, it's yet another disgruntled, murderous ancestor annoying the living with his mediocre piano playing.

I wish just once that when the hapless nursemaid and abandoned waif in tow show up to one of these gloomy Scooby do fun houses and are confronted by the spinster pair furiously knitting away at what we never know - death shawl, body bag, Hello Kitty booties, the two doomed pair would just go “Okay grannies. What’s the deal? Where are the bones buried and who’s frigging going to be going around trying to off us ‘cause one of you two got all hot and bothered back when even more petticoats had to be worn?!”

Thank you for the show as usual, my boon companions, but I do so loathe me a couple of ghosts that go around endangering living children exactly as they would never do when alive. Sure the mother went nuts before dying, but it wasn't a murderous sort of nuts - more of a protective nutsiness. The child, on the other hand, didn't seem to go nuts at all - she just died of exposure after being smacked a good one by the old man with a cane. Which sort of brings me to the crux of all this. The bad guy here is undoubtedly the father. His children didn't feel they could talk with him or be honest with him. And it turns out that they were right because once he discovers the truth, he becomes murderously awful and abusive. Without a doubt, his should have been the dangerous ghost. Instead he does little but play an organ and reenact some horrible behavior. It is the women who get all the blame and punishment for what happens despite their relative powerlessness and innocence. And what are we to learn from all this? Women be crazy.